Yes, Darkest Hour is the perfect companion piece to Dunkirk, and vice versa. But both of these movies work by themselves too. Darkest Hour stands on its own merits. It can be just as intense and gripping as Dunkirk, even without the battle scenes. Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Churchill can sometimes be exasperating. It’s almost as if he’s taken on too much of his real life inspiration’s mannerisms. I actually mean this as a compliment – Oldman is spectacular in this film.

For much of the movie, Churchill faces stiff opposition from those who either dislike him or disagree with him. And we can see why. The payoff is that, as we all know, Churchill ended up being right. No, they shouldn’t have negotiated with the Nazis. No, they shouldn’t have surrendered. Yes, they SHOULD fight to the bitter end. But what Darkest Hour does so well is show us why those seemingly obvious choices didn’t seem so simple or easy at the time. The country was on the brink of defeat, and only with stubborn and dangerous resolve (thanks to Churchill) did they succeed (eventually).

If you see this film, you should also see Dunkirk. And if you’ve seen Dunkirk, you should see this film too. As I mentioned before, you don’t HAVE to see them both in order to appreciate them as films. They work well in their own right. But they also work so well together. In Darkest Hour, you’ll get to see WHY those boys are on the beach in Dunkirk. It just makes you realize what a truly incredible story this really was.

4 out of 5 stars